Bamba ( he, במבה) is a

snack A snack is a small portion of food generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at home. Traditionally, snacks are ...

made of peanut-butter-flavored puffed maize manufactured by the Osem corporation in Kiryat Gat, Israel. Bamba is one of the leading snack foods produced and sold in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. It has been marketed since 1964 with no decline in sales. Bamba makes up 25% of the Israeli snack market. Similar products from other domestic manufacturers include "Parpar" (Literally "Butterfly", Telma, since 2000 a subsidiary of

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy ...

) and "Shush" (

Strauss-Elite Strauss Group Ltd. ( he, שטראוס גרופ בע״מ), formerly known as Strauss-Elite (), is among the largest food products manufacturers in Israel. Strauss Group focuses on dairy products, coffee, water, snacks, salads, and dips. Its su ...

). Osem named the snack "Bamba" because it sounded like baby talk.

Overview

Bamba is made from peanut-butter-flavored puffed maize. Bamba contains no

preservatives A preservative is a substance or a chemical that is added to products such as food products, beverages, pharmaceutical drugs, paints, biological samples, cosmetics, wood, and many other products to prevent decomposition by microbial growth or b ...

food coloring Food coloring, or color additive, is any dye, pigment, or substance that imparts color when it is added to food or drink. They come in many forms consisting of liquids, powders, gels, and pastes. Food coloring is used in both commercial fo ...

, is enriched with several

vitamins A vitamin is an organic molecule (or a set of molecules closely related chemically, i.e. vitamers) that is an essential micronutrient that an organism needs in small quantities for the proper functioning of its metabolism. Essential nutrie ...

, and contains high amounts of

fat In nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specifically to triglycerides (triple es ...

and

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quanti ...

. The energy content is 160

calories The calorie is a unit of energy. For historical reasons, two main definitions of "calorie" are in wide use. The large calorie, food calorie, or kilogram calorie was originally defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of o ...

per 28 grams. Bamba is certified kosher by ''Badatz'' Jerusalem. The Washington Post describes it as "

Cheez Doodles Cheez Doodles are a cheese puff produced by Wise Foods. Originally developed and manufactured in 1964 by King Kone Corp. of the Bronx, New York, it became the prevalent cheese puff snack on the East Coast. Description Cheez Doodles are a ch ...

without the cheese."

Manufacturing process

Corn grits are "popped" under high pressure, turning them into long lines of white, puffed, unflavored Bamba. The lines are cut into nuggets and then moved to a drying chamber where they are air-baked for 20 seconds, which gives them a crispy texture. The

peanut butter Peanut butter is a food paste or spread made from ground, dry-roasted peanuts. It commonly contains additional ingredients that modify the taste or texture, such as salt, sweeteners, or emulsifiers. Peanut butter is consumed in many countri ...

, imported from

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

, is added at the end. A worker stands on a step above the rotating drums and pours a pitcher of liquid peanut butter into each of the containers. As the drums turn, the nuggets are coated. The hot Bamba is then moved along a conveyor belt to cool before packaging.

Variations

In 1964, Bamba was trialed with a cheese flavor but proved unpopular and was dropped. Osem quickly changed tack and launched Bamba in different flavors, including corn, grill,

caraway Caraway, also known as meridian fennel and Persian cumin (''Carum carvi''), is a biennial plant in the family Apiaceae, native to western Asia, Europe, and North Africa. Etymology The etymology of "caraway" is unclear. Caraway has bee ...

and peanut butter, which became the mainstay of Bamba. Nowadays, Osem also produces

strawberry The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus '' Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely a ...

-flavored Bamba (officially called 'Sweet Bamba' he, במבה מתוקה, and unofficially 'Red Bamba' he, במבה אדומה) that is round in shape instead of oblong, and

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

instead of the usual color. It was originally colored with an artificial red dye, which has since been replaced with beetroot. In 2008 Osem introduced a new Bamba flavor,

nougat Nougat ( , ; ; az, nuqa; fa, نوقا) is a family of confections made with sugar or honey, roasted nuts ( almonds, walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, and macadamia nuts are common), whipped egg whites, and sometimes chopped candied fruit. ...

-filled, produced at the Osem plant in

Sderot Sderot ( he, שְׂדֵרוֹת, , lit. ''Boulevards'', ar, سديروت) is a western Negev city and former development town in the Southern District of Israel. In it had a population of . Sderot is located less than a mile from Gaza (the c ...

. It is considered by the

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, sin ...

group, owner of the controlling interest in Osem, to be one of the great successes of Nestlé in Israel. Osem introduced a

halva Halva (also halvah, halwa, and other spellings, Persian : حلوا) is a type of confectionery originating from Persia and widely spread throughout the Middle East. The name is used for a broad variety of recipes, generally a thick paste made ...

-filled and a

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civil ...

-filled Bamba in 2010, and a "Bamba-filled Bamba" (a peanut-butter-paste filled Bamba) in 2013. In 2014 Osem introduced a special edition of Bamba and their other popular snack

Bissli Bissli ( he, בִּיסְלִי, ''Bisli'') is an Israeli wheat snack produced by Osem. Bissli is Osem's second-best selling snack brand after Bamba. were introduced to the market, as well as Banana Punch flavoured Bamba. Coin sized and shaped, "round Bamba" was introduced by the company In 2016, as well as a mini Bamba version of the snack called "Bambini". For

Purim Purim (; , ; see Name below) is a Jewish holiday which commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from Haman, an official of the Achaemenid Empire who was planning to have all of Persia's Jewish subjects killed, as recounted in the Book ...

2017, Osem introduced a Pretzel shaped Bamba, and towards the summer of that same year, a

caramel Caramel ( or ) is an orange-brown confectionery product made by heating a range of sugars. It can be used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons, or as a topping for ice cream and custard. The process of caramelizat ...

biscuit flavoured cream filled Bamba. Ice-coffee filled Bamba was introduced in 2018, and in winter 2019 Osem introduced both Cappuccino cream filled Bamba, as well as Bamba with

Chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civil ...

. Back in 1963 the

Bahlsen Bahlsen is a German food company based in Hanover. It was founded in July 1889 by Hermann Bahlsen (1859–1919) as the "Hannoversche Keksfabrik H. Bahlsen". German politician Ernst Albrecht (1930–2014) was CEO of Bahlsen in the 1970s and the ...

company launched a very similar product to the classic Bamba called 'Erdnussflips' (peanut flips) in Germany where it remains a staple snack. In 2017

Trader Joe's Trader Joe's is an American chain of grocery stores headquartered in Monrovia, California. The chain has over 569 stores across the United States. The first Trader Joe's store was opened in 1967 by founder Joe Coulombe in Pasadena, Californi ...

began offering Bamba under their private label, imported from Osem in Israel.

Peanut allergy

As Bamba is made with peanuts, people allergic to peanuts may be severely affected by it. However early peanut consumption is associated with a lower prevalence of peanut allergy. In fact, a 2008 study concluded that, due to the extensive consumption of Bamba by infants in Israel, peanut allergy is rare among Israelis. A control group of Jewish children in the UK had ten times higher rates of allergy; the difference is not accounted for by differences in

atopy Atopy is the tendency to produce an exaggerated immunoglobulin E (IgE) immune response to otherwise harmless substances in the environment. Allergic diseases are clinical manifestations of such inappropriate, atopic responses. Atopy may have a ...

, social class, genetic background, or peanut allergenicity. The later Learning Early About Peanut Study (LEAP) also showed that high-risk children who were given softened sticks of Bamba in early life had a lower rate of peanut allergy later in life. Children who were exposed to peanuts through Bamba showed an 81% reduction in peanut allergy prevalence. Medical specialists in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

speculate that the case of Bamba consumption in Israel, with the early introduction of peanut in diets, offers lessons for reducing rates of peanut allergy among children.

Advertising

Bamba's advertising features the "Baby Bamba" character heavily. "Bamba Baby" is a cartoon character, depicted wearing a blue diaper. He has one tooth, and is bald except for one ginger curl at the front of his head. In honor of International Women's Day 2020, a female "Baby Bamba" was introduced. Female "Baby Bamba" wears a pink T-shirt and has pigtails. In March 2021 the baseball team

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major leagu ...

announced a partnership with the brand.

Criticism

Some health experts say that Bamba should not be promoted as a "healthy" children's snack. They say this claim is deceptive, and the added vitamins in Bamba could result in overconsumption of nutrients.

References

External links

Bamba page
on Osem's website {{Jewish baked goods Brand name snack foods Israeli brands Israeli cuisine Israeli inventions Kosher food Food and drink introduced in the 1960s Peanut butter